ISBN:
9780415277433
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (190 p)
Edition:
Online-Ausg.
Parallel Title:
Print version Real Space : The fate of physical presence in the digital age, on and off planet
DDC:
303.48/3
Keywords:
Electronic books
Abstract:
Is planet earth the end of the line, or is space itself the next stop?Cyberspace. It's incredible, taking us to any part of the planet we want to visit. But as Paul Levinson shows in his brilliant new book, when it comes to transport, we're still stuck in the past, preferring to take our bodies with us. Whether it's trains, yachts, scooters or pogo-sticks, we're compelled to keep moving, our movements curtailed only by the earth itself. In our imaginations however, we soar way past the limits of current technology. With a lucid but reflective style that takes in everything from robots and scie
Description / Table of Contents:
Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; Preface Four departures; 1 Bicycling into outer space; The limits of cyberspace; The lure of outer space; What went wrong in outer space?; Space repackaged; Robots and missed golden opportunities; 2 Walking and talking: the reason they rhyme; The biological antiquity of the coupling; Human roads; Railroads; Out of the box; Impulse power and partners; Global villages; The beginnings of space travel and cyberspace; 3 Breaking out of windows and cyberspace; The appeal of interaction
Description / Table of Contents:
The medium of media and the real worldTwo kinds of Java in the world; Ecologies of transport and communication; 4 The cellphone as antidote to the Internet; Dissolving what glues us to the screen; Talking again leads the way to walking, on this Earth; 5 The only way forward from California is up: what's keeping us down?; Realpolitik versus realspace; The entropy of details and science fiction; Philosophy versus science; 6 Further from home, closer to truth; Mirrors: pitfalls and opportunities; Telescopes into microscopes; Apartment, city, universe; 7 Is democracy the best launchpad to space?
Description / Table of Contents:
War and peace, application and inventionMicrosoft space?; Democracy's partners; 8 Old-time religion as a new wing to space; Conquistadors to the stars?; Coinciding heavens; How would religion make its contribution?; Playful space; 9 Would you want to live near a star named HD 209458?; Old names for new worlds; Spacefaring metaphors; The comforts of home in space; 10 Real robots don't cry; Robotic merits; Limitations of programming; Knowledge in tiers and tears; Robots with emotions?; 11 Realspace in an age of terrorism; Two-edged swords of communication; Anthrax and e-mail
Description / Table of Contents:
Planes and rockets: reversal of symbols?Starport at the World Trade Center; A few last words about images, reality, and opportunity; Select bibliography, with annotations; Index
Note:
Description based upon print version of record
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